The “No Kings” marches put millions in the streets last month and now they’re aiming for the jugular: a full general strike on May 1st. No work, no school, no shopping. The AFT, the Chicago Teachers Union, Starbucks Workers United, the UE, and dozens of local labor councils have signed on. This isn’t a hashtag. This is organized labor remembering what it was built for.
And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Trump just spent the last week slapping 100% tariffs on pharmaceuticals and jacking metals tariffs to 50% while the Supreme Court already told him half his tariff scheme was illegal. The JBS meatpacking workers in Colorado just ended a three-week strike — the first slaughterhouse walkout since 1985 — because the company had the audacity to offer sub-inflation raises while posting record margins. Workers everywhere are getting the same message: you’re on your own, so you better act like it.
May Day used to feel like a leftover holiday for countries that actually respect labor. Maybe not this year. The fact that real unions with real membership rolls are backing a general strike in the United States tells you exactly how far gone things are. That’s not hope talking — it’s math. When enough people stop showing up, the people in charge start remembering who actually runs the machine.